March 2012

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Industrial Worker

• Page 3

__I afrm that I am a worker, and that I am not an employer. __I agree to abide by the IWW constitution.

__I will study its principles and acquaint myself with its purposes.

Name: ________________________________ Address: ______________________________ City, State, Post Code, Country: _______________ Occupation: ____________________________ Phone: ____________ Email: _______________ Amount Enclosed: _________

The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of working people and the few, who make up the em- ploying class, have all the good things of life. Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the workers of the world organize as a class, take possession of the means of production, abolish the wage system, and live in harmony with the earth.

We nd that the centering of the man

- agement of industries into fewer and fewer hands makes the trade unions unable to cope with the ever-growing power of the employing class. The trade unions foster a state of affairs which allows one set of workers to be pitted against another set of workers in the same industry, thereby helping defeat one a nother in wage wars. Moreover, the trade unio ns aid the employ- ing class to mislead the workers into the belief that the working class have interests in common with their employers. These conditions can be changed and the interest of the working class upheld only by an organization formed in such a way that all its members in any one in- dustry, or all industries if necessary, cease work whenever a strike or lockout is on in any department thereof, thus making an injury to one an injury to all. Instead of the conservative motto, “A fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work,” we must inscribe on our banner the revolu- tionary watchword, “Abolition of the wage system.” It is the historic mission of the work- ing class to do away with capitalism. The army of production must be organized, not only for the everyday struggle with capitalists, but also to carry on production when capitalism shall have been over- thrown. By organizing industrially we are forming the structure of the new society within the shell of the old.

TO JOIN:

Mail this form with a check or money order for initiation

and your rst month’s dues to: IWW, Post Ofce Box 180195, Chicago, IL

60618, USA. Initiation is the same as one month’s dues. Our dues are calculated according to your income. If your monthly income is under $2000, dues are $9 a month. If your monthly income is between $2000 and $3500, dues are $18 a month. If your monthly income is over $3500 a month, dues

are $27 a month. Dues may vary outside of North America and in Regional

Organizing Committees (Australia, British Isles, German Language Area).

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Industrial Worker

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Join th e IWW T oday

T

he IWW is a union for all workers, a union dedicated to organizing on the

job, in our industries and in our communities both to win better conditions today and to build a world without bosses, a world in which production and distribution are organized by workers ourselves to meet the needs of the entire popu- lation, not merely a handful of exploiters.

We are the Industrial Workers of the World because we organize industrially –

that is to say, we organize all workers on the job into one union, rather than dividing

workers by trade, so that we can pool our strength to ght the bosses together. Since the IWW was founded in 1905, we have recognized the need to build a truly

international union movement in order to confront the global power of the bosses and in order to strengthen workers’ ability to stand in solidarity with our fellow workers no matter what part of the globe they happen to live on.

We are a union open to all workers, whether or not the IWW happens to have representation rights in your workplace. We organize the worker, not the job, recog

-

nizing that unionism is not about government certication or employer recognition

but about workers coming together to address our common concerns. Sometimes this means striking or signing a contract. Sometimes it means refusing to work with an unsafe machine or following the bosses’ orders so literally that nothing gets done.

Sometimes it means agitating around particular issues or grievances in a specic

workplace, or across an industry.

Because the IWW is a democratic, member-run union, decisions about what issues

to address and what tactics to pursue are made by the workers directly involved.

IWW Constitution Preamble

Nigerian Workers, Students Stage General Strike

By Tom Keough

On Jan. 9, thousands of people stayed out of work and school as part of a nation- 0wide general strike, which formed out of the Occupy Nigeria movement. Only doctors, nurses, and essential emergency staff were working during the strike. Some

police ofcers in uniform joined the strike,

marching through the streets in formation. Videos show masses of people singing “Solidarity Forever.” Since September, Nigeria’s people were inspired by the Occupy movement and started protests against the corrup- tion and exploitation they face. Nigerian poverty is intense. For years, average wages have rested at the equivalents of $2 per day. Nigeria’s minimum wage was recently increased to 18,000 naira, or al- most $110 per month. The new minimum wage has still not been implemented as a law in many states in the country, and is not very well enforced where it is the law. The Nigerian government is seen as one of the most overpaid governments in the world. An average Nigerian senator is paid $135,802 a month, or $1.6 million a year in “allowances” and salary.

Austerity & Effects on Oil Prices

Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer, is known for corruption. The nation’s politicians favor the foreign oil compa- nies—they give themselves large salaries while they cut back on spending for the nation’s infrastructure, which includes

cuts to the oil reneries and the electric

system, causing power shortages. This causes a need for expensive imported oil,

and Nigeria imports over 70 percent of its

petroleum products. Families often deal with this by buying gasoline generators. In the past, people protested this system, and the govern- ment responded to pressure by subsidiz- ing fuel prices. In an austerity measure, President Goodluck Jonathan ended this subsidy program on Jan. 1, and fuel prices increased by 120 percent. Protests swept the country, with roads and oil facilities blocked. Government and corporate web- sites were hacked with protest messages. People started talking about the need for a general strike in response to protest- ers being killed. At 1:00 a.m. on Jan. 5, police evicted nonviolent Occupy Nigeria protesters in Kano. They used tear gas and reportedly shot unarmed sleeping protest- ers at the Silver Jubilee Square. Protest- ers quickly regrouped and began a new occupation at Sabuwar Kofa, 1 kilometer

away. When the call went out for a general

strike, Denja Yaqub of the Nigeria Labour

Congress (NLC) stated, “We are shutting

down the Nigerian airspace to local and

international ights from Sunday night.”

“If a revolution will solve our prob-

lems, why not? What is going on already

shows that our people are prepared for a revolution…But we will not ask for a revo- lution that will bring back the military (to govern), they are a part of the problem,” Yaqub added. The major unions joined the call, and on Jan. 9 the working people shut down the nation with a general strike until fuel subsidies were restored. The strike also included the demand that Goodluck Jonathan and many other politicians resign. The people demanded an end to the luxurious expenses of the politicians, such as the “refreshments” budget, which collects heavy taxes from the working poor. People are demanding participation in the governing process, an end to corruption, and the breakup of the rich “power cabal.” The government responded with both violence and promises of reform. They announced that they would start a large mass transit system to ease the cost of fuel, while in many places strikes were outlawed. Police and troops loyal to the government attacked protesters. Festus Ozoeze, Vice Chairman of Amalgamated

Workers Union, was arrested for disobey

- ing the ban on mass actions. The state tried him instantly and sent him to prison, and he has since been released. Civil rights lawyers, pastors and others were arrested as well. The news reported that at least 15 strikers killed and others badly injured. A young woman, Adetoun Adetona, appeared in a power- ful YouTube video, passionately yelling, “If I die, I die. I don’t care about my life, I care about Ni- geria. Stand against corruption, social injustice, public slavery of the greedy 1 percent, and the

conniving government. We were

born for a time like this.” This video rapidly went viral. During the strike, Christians protected mosques from po- lice attacks and Muslim groups protected churches. Nigeria’s people, despite a long history of religious trouble, became united.

The ofce of the Nigerian Tele

- vision Authority was occupied by hundreds of protesters for broadcasting “state propaganda.” An interesting tactic was that the movement paused strike activi- ties during the weekend so people could replenish their dwindling food supplies and restart the strike on Monday. Support rallies sprang up quickly around the world from Finland’s snowy National Day of support Occupy Nigeria, to protests in London, a march to the United Nations headquarters in New York City, and marches throughout Africa, Eu- rope and North America. On Jan. 16, Goodluck Jonathan an- nounced that he would back down tempo- rarily and restore part of the fuel subsidies. This still leaves the price higher than it was before January, when petrol prices rose from 65 naira per liter to 140 naira

or more. His new price is 97 naira per litre (or $2.27 per gallon).

The NLC leaders called for an end to the general strike. This was called a vic- tory by many commentators, and a stab in the back by others. Goodluck Jonathan said he will pursue full deregulation of the petroleum sector at some future time.

Name: __________ ____________ _ Address: __________ ___________ State/Pro vince: ___________ ___ Zip/PC________________________

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Graphic: Occupy Nigeria

NLC President Abdulwaheed Omar

said, “We are sure that no government or

institution will take Nigerians for granted again.” The NLC described the strike as a success. Still, many Nigerians remain very angry that gas prices rose at all. The Nigeria Medical Association and the Nigeria Bar Association condemned the labor leader’s suspension of the in-

denite strike. Professor Tam David-West accused la

- bor leaders of betraying the masses. “They have exposed themselves to be suspected, rightly or wrongly, to have been bribed by the government,” he said On Jan. 18 Nigerians marched to protest the agreement. People are calling for new ways to deal with the political and

union ofcials.

The American news media generally ignores news from Africa, and the six-day general strike, which called itself Occupy

Nigeria, got little mention at rst, in much

the same way that they ignored Occupy

Wall Street. Such mass industrial actions

needs support and exposure from working class militants around the world—the kind of support such actions won’t receive in the capitalist media. In the United States the

IWW and, indeed, the

Industrial Worker,